Uncle
by petthekat
Summary: Over a decade after the end of the war, a shared night between Toph and Sokka has far reaching consequences for them both. [one shot/rated for explicit content]


Author's Note:

This is just a one-shot that is always tugging on the back of my mind whenever I watch Legend of Korra. I have a few ideas to expand on it just a bit, if anyone is interested. Warning: Rating is for sex, language, and general sadness. Enjoy!

* * *

Toph tapped her fingers on the dinner table.

"Katara, I am literally _starving to death._"

Katara bustled around the table, finishing some last minut prep.

"It's been three whole months since we've all been together," she said for the millionth time. "I want to make sure everything is perfect!" She stopped and rested her hands in her swollen belly, humming thoughtfully. "The seaweed rolls!" she exclaimed suddenly, before shuffling out of the dining room. Toph snickered. When she re-entered a few moments later, Aang was trailing her with a tray of sweets.

"Right there, Aang," she pointed to the only empty spot on the long table that wasn't covered by a placemat. He obeyed, then gave her an affectionate kiss on the cheek. Toph thumped him in the knee as he walked by to take his place at the head of the low table.

"Hey, hey, look who I found!"

Toph's fingers twitched in displeasure, but she tilted her head in greeting as she heard Sokka enter, followed by his 'discovery.'

"Hey guys," Zuko said with a little grin, immediately stumbling back under the ferocious hug of the lady of the house.

"It's about time!" Katara admonished, finally releasing him. Toph smirked. Zuko would always, always blush at Katara's passionate affection. He was so awkward.

"Where's Suki? And little Ursa?"

Zuko settled down at the table, across from Toph, and poked her with a chopstick from the safety of his own side. She swatted at him and then kicked him under the table. He winced and rubbed his shin before answering Katara.

"Uh, they should be - "

"Right here!" Suki dropped down next to Toph, hooking her arm around the younger woman's shoulders. "I had to give Ursa her allergy medicine, but she's passed out now. It's a long way out here to the middle of nowhere."

Katara made a sympathetic noise, setting out a last dish. "I know, but we'll get this area booming soon. I'm just glad you guys finally came to visit. Kya's almost old enough to play with Ursa now! She needs another girl around."

"You mean besides Aang?" Toph asked innocently, and Zuko snickered along with her. Katara rolled her eyes, but she couldn't supress a giggle. She loved having everyone together.

"Everyone here?" Aang asked, before bowing his head for a brief chant of thanks. Katara sat at his right corner, Toph at his left. Zuko and Sokka sat across from her, legs crossed under the low table. "Finally," Sokka said with a flourish as Katara handed out the food. Toph accepted her bowl, though she ate with much less rigor than normal.

Everyone else around her was animated, catching up on new events and laughing at old stories. Toph chewed on a mouthful of noodles in silence and wished she could drown out Sokka's voice.

_Two Months Ago _

It was dark in her apartment.

And it wasn't hard to figure out why, but it often made the place look empty, particularly at night, if one bothered to glance at the windows as they passed on the street. No one would be making that mistake tonight, though. Raucous laughter and a blaring radio could be heard for miles.

Sokka grinned.

She was home. She was always home when he needed her. He shifted around with his bag as he stepped up to the door, raising his hand to knock -

"Come _in, _already! Jeez."

- and then lowering it with a little smirk. He pulled aside the sliding door and stepped inside, quickly lighting a candle that always sat off the side of the modest apartment. There she was, feet propped up on a low coffee table, hands behind her head and blank eyes staring at the ceiling. Another whoop of laughter and she was on her sides.

"Oh, man! This is the best one yet!"

Sokka jumped over her legs and fell onto the couch of his closest friend. "Which episode is it? I haven't heard episode three yet!"

Toph Beifong grinned widely, her face still tilted up. "Ha! You're missing out, then! This is episode five. You need to keep up, Sokka. Damn." She rubbed her sore sides, giving a yelp when Sokka leapt over her. "Turn it off, turn it off! I can't hear this one yet!"

_One-Eyed Mortimer and the Hungry Turtle-Duck _was, without a doubt, the best thing about this new radio contraption, even though Toph seemed to be the only who appreciated its comedic genius like he did. Katara said it was stupid.

"Don't! DON'T!" More yelling, thuds, and bickering ("My neighbors hate me," Toph had told him solemnly one day, showing absolutely no signs of remorse) and then -

"ARGH!"

A smack to the radio turned on a twangy music station, and Sokka breathed a sigh of relief as Toph shoved him to the floor with a grunt. "It's not my fault you haven't been listening!" She pouted, stretching out on her futon as much as she could, even though her legs didn't make it all the way to the end and Sokka would just sit on them anyway, which he did. She poked him with a toe and then reclined again, setting into the arm of the futon.

"So," she said after a moment, taking her time to fold a leg up and inspect her toes. "What happened this time?"

Sokka slowed in his motion to unfold his legs. Then he continued, putting them on her bare coffee table and shrugging his slim shoulders.

"What do you mean?"

Toph made an annoyed face, something she was remarkably good at for someone who had never seen a facial expression. "Oh, don't play that. You're never here this early."

"What am I normally doing, then?"

Toph let go of her foot and stood. "Uh," she said, "trying to get your little pollywhacker wet." She wiggled her finger at him, snickering when he immediately made a noise of dismay.

"What the _hell, _Toph?" he exclaimed, looking affronted, but she just stepped over his legs and started making tea. "I do not - "

"Give it a rest, Sokka. You always do this. You go out with some bimbo for a couple of weeks, maybe a month or two, and then she dumps you and you end up back here, all upset about it, and I tell you - " She waved a hand at him from her spot at the stove. "I tell you, Sokka, the reason the newspapers around here call you a dirty horn-polarbear-dog is because you do this. And you say, Oh, I _know_, Toph. And then you do it again."

She set the tea to boil and turned to face him, arms folded over her chest.

"You're my best friend, Sokka. And you're a sucker for women."

Sokka fell back against the futon, feeling put-out. He remained silent, though, before finally squinting at her with one eye.

"This one didn't dump me. I broke up with her."

Toph snorted in disbelief, and Sokka scowled, standing. "No, really! I did."

"Yeah, right," Toph fiddled with the teapot some more and then selected from tealeaves Zuko had sent her from the Fire Nation. She loved the spicy stuff.

Sokka leaned into the counter at her side. "I'm being serious, Toph... I just. I don't know. I felt like something was missing in our relationship." He made a face, and Toph tapped on her tea kettle.

"Uh, you mean like a brain?" Sokka made a face. "She wasn't that dumb!"

Toph turned to face him, her mouth open in disbelief. "Sokka," she said flatly. "One time when you stepped out of the room, I convinced that girl to _lick a doorknob_."

"Why did you make her lick a doorknob?!"

"That's the craziest part - I didn't have to _make _her at all! You know what I said? I said, hey, that doorknob sure looks tasty. And she licked it. Did you hear what I said, Sokka? That bitch heard a _blind person _say that a doorknob _looked tasty _and she _followed their advice_!"

Sokka exploded into laughter as Toph threw up her arms in exasperation.

"I'm telling you, Sokka! You start finding dumber girls than that and they won't be of legal age to date you." She moved the tea and poured two cups. Sokka sucked in a deep breath, wiped away tears of laughter, and then sat with Toph in silence for a few minutes.

"I guess she was a little slow. She was pretty, though."

"Guess I'll have to take your word for it."

Sokka smirked into his teacup and reclined, glad for the sparse, calming nature of Toph's apartment. His was full of shit. "Seriously, Sokka," Toph continued. "Just find someone who's dumb enough to date _you_, but not so dumb that they'll lick a doorknob. It shouldn't be that hard."

He smirked. "You are full of wisdom, Toph."

Toph belched and the thumped her stomach with a closed fist. "Yeaaaah, I get that a lot."

Sokka reclined with an arm behind his head and made a thoughtful noise. "Dad's getting pretty fed up with it, too, I think," he admitted after a few moments. "He keeps telling me I need to settle down." Toph raised both brows and then shrugged. "He's right," she said. "You're practically an old man now."

"I'm _twenty-nine_!"

"Yeah, like I said. Old." Toph smirked into her tea, obviously pleased with herself, but now Sokka's mind was moving on to deeper and more introspective thoughts, and they fell into silence again. After nearly half an hour of thoughtful silence, Toph spoke up.

"My dad died."

Sokka nearly choked on his tea. "_What?_"

Toph made a noncommittal gesture at her teacup, her gaze straight forward at a blank wall. "I got a letter about a week ago. Had someone up at the station read it to me. I'm not really surprised," she swished around her tea in her cup. "I didn't think he'd live very long after my mom went." She sipped her drink, flinching when Sokka moved closer to her side and put a hand on her arm. He kept it there, though, because sometimes Toph had to have some affection forced on her, otherwise she'd get none at all.

"He left me like, a ton of money."

Sokka raised a brow. "Well, yeah," he said slowly. "I guess he would. He was super rich and you were his only kid." He paused. "What're you gonna do with it?"

Toph snorted. "I gave that shit away."

"Already?!"

Toph finished off her teacup and got up to make another. "Well, yeah. This happened a damn week ago, I just didn't want to talk about it." She poured some Sake into this cup, taking a long drink. "It's better that way. I gave it to that committee, the one that Katara helped start?"

"The Republic City Children's Home?" Sokka asked, and Toph nodded. "Mmhm, they're going to use the money to build a really big, cool facility right here in Republic City. They'll finally have enough beds and blankets and stuff, so that's cool." She shrugged, as if it was no big deal.

Sokka smiled a little. Republic City was still in its infancy, and he couldn't wait to see what it would become. With generous people like Toph and hardworking representatives like Katara, it was bound to be great. The area around them was growing like crazy, and he could tell Aang was proud. The police force was really growing, too, thanks to Toph. With every passing year, more and more Earthbenders were able to metalbend. Toph liked to joke that soon she would have a whole city of Metalbenders, and she would be _Metal Lord! _or something to that effect.

Sokka got up and put some Sake in his tea as well. The two finished off the pot and then the bottle, as they often did, before settling into the futon and listening to the radio some more. The candle burned out, but there was enough moonlight filtering through the window to see in the familiar apartment, so he didn't bother to light another.

When Toph had finished off the last of the Sake, she stood and moved to go throw the bottle away. Sokka watched her carefully, before his lips twisted into a smirk and he moved his foot as quietly as possible. One day he is going to get the best of her, one day, and it is going to be ...

Toph's shin didn't even hit the rolling footstool that Sokka suddenly kicked in her way. She jumped deftly right over it, though it did crash into one of her few end tables and knock over a bunch of scrolls that someone at the station had thoughtlessly given her.

She gasped, her body twisting in an exaggerated fashion towards her attacker.

"_Sokka! _Trying to TRIP the blind girl!"

"Yeah, _trying! _Jeez, no matter how quiet I am, you always know!" he exclaimed, jumping up onto the futon defensively, but Toph had already dropped the sake bottle into the bin and was ready to pounce.

"Oh, you are ASKING for it, little drummer boy!" she yelled.

The chase was on.

Sokka gave the _unmanliest _shriek ever as he jumped over the back of the futon, stumbled over a folded rug and then darted for the corner, Toph hot on his heels. This happened nearly every day, sometimes right in the middle of meals, much to Katara's annoyance. (One time Toph and Sokka had completely ruined a dinner party with Fire Nation nobles when he'd tried to glue her to her chair. Zuko had not been pleased.)

More thuds, crashes, and an overturned table before Toph tackled Sokka onto the floor. He yelped again, finding her much smaller fists with ease. They'd been grappling a really long time, it seemed, but it never grew old.

"HA!" he shouted, flipping them over and pinning her wrists to her stomach. She kneed him, dangerously close to his groin, but he managed to keep her contained. Toph gave an annoyed growl, thrashing her legs.

"Eugh, when did you actually get stronger than me?" whined the earthbender, and Sokka sat back a little to roll his eyes, careful not to release her hands.

"I've always been stronger than you! Bending me into a freaking crater and leaving me there for two days never meant you were stronger than me."

It was true. Sokka may have been a wiry teenager when he met Toph, so many years ago, but he'd always been stronger than her like this, with brute force and muscle mass. Not that she was weak. Even without bending, she was a hell of a lot stronger than her (still) tiny body looked. Many a perp on the street had made the mistake of thinking that bending was her online line of defense.

"And no biting, either!" Sokka admonished, carefully situating his hands out of reach of her mouth. Toph scowled, bucking her legs again, but she wasn't going anywhere and they both knew it. Sokka grinned.

"Ah-ha! Sokka the Warrior trumps Toph the Bender. As always." He snickered and Toph squirmed under him, making him clamp his legs tighter to keep her from getting her away. "You are such a little ninny," she complained, before finally falling still, her cheeks flushed. Sokka glanced down at her hands, taking a moment to marvel at how much darker his were in comparison. He'd only grown darker since coming to Republic City. It seemed like he was always outside.

He turned his gaze back to her and Toph was squinting at him, an expression that usually meant she was thinking. He studied her face. She looked much the same as she always had, save for her longer hair, which always seemed to be in an unbrushed braid at the side of her face. He gave it a thoughtful flick, knowing that it would infuriate her. She thumped against him again with a hiss, and suddenly his attention was back on her face.

"Why are you still on top of me? Get off," she said, though her words had no real venom and she could have easily moved out from underneath him if she had wanted to bother with bending. Instead of answering her question, Sokka moved her hands from her stomach back to the floor, his hands keeping them pressed there against the rug. He could feel her inhale at the vulnerable position, and the fact that she allowed him to keep her there made his heart race.

I should have just gone out with that dumb girl again, he thought.

His body got the best of him. It always did.

_But not with Toph, don't do this. Come on, Sokka. _

He did it anyway.

He moved his fingers from where they grasped her wrists and moved them slowly down the inside of her outstretched arms. When she didn't move away, Sokka found her lips with his and was met with no resistance. This wasn't part of their games, wasn't part of their friendship, but tonight the physical and emotional boundary was crossed.

The kiss was slow, simple, and after a moment he pulled his face just a breath away.

A pause after the kiss, their lips hovering just an inch apart, and perhaps he could have pulled back then if Toph had not grasped the material of his tunic and yanked him close again. His mouth met hers and this time, it was explosive, like nearly everything else they did together.

A parting gasp and suddenly they were back together, his body flush against hers on the floor. Toph pulled a hand around to the back of his neck and he gripped her at her hip, pulling her against him and getting a soft groan for his efforts. Their mouths slanted, tongues delving out and tasting each other, before he pulled her hips tight against him again and all the evidence of his arousal was there.

"Sh - Shit, Sokka," Toph whispered, but that was all she said before she was meeting him in another fierce kiss, their hips grinding together as she wrapped her arms fully around him. Then she was scrambling to get her hands under his shirt before she simply pulled it off of him. Sokka pressed his face into her neck as she moved her hands over his chest, slim and toned from labor and his natural physique. He pulled her against him again, his bare arms hot in comparison to the cool floor. Then they were gone, and his hand was moving down to the simple white top she wore in her off time. He pulled it away, dropping it carelessly, and then dropped his hands to roam over her chest bindings before he pulled those away too.

When his mouth moved to her breasts, Toph whimpered louder than she'd ever care to admit.

"For the love of spirits, get these clothes _off _me," she growled. Sokka nipped at her neck before obeying, pulling off her loose pants as her hands scrambled at his own. God, he _ached_, so he pressed his lips fully on hers to distract himself. She was even better this way, in the semi-darkness, and she may not have been the traditional beauty, but she was glorious in the most unique way. She was hardly any taller than she'd been when he'd met her, which meant that his six foot body dwarfed hers, and it was all he could do not to simply devour her.

She reached down and grasped his length. Sokka inhaled sharly, biting again at her shoulder.

"Fuck, Toph," he groaned, kneading a breast in his hands as she teased him. He moved up, taking her face in his hands before pulling both of her hands away and moving them over her head. She gave the faintest of nods, her toes curling with anticipation, and then he was inside of her. A groan accompanied his barest moment of self-control.

He rocked into her, pulling yet another one of those rare noises of pleasure from her. Another curse, because _spirits_, this felt too good to be real. He moved again, pushing in her and soon he couldn't help but pick up the pace. As he might've imagined, had he ever planned this scenario, Toph pushed back even harder and faster.

Their mouths crashed together in a desperate attempt to stifle the noises.

"Toph, I - "

The young woman rocked back, her body arching and her lips parted to form a loud curse as her orgasm rocked her. Sokka's brief moment of self-control shattered, and he pushed deep into her as he orgasmed, his fingers curling deeply into her thighs.

A few moments later, he was finally able to release her. He swallowed dryly before he pulled away from her. Heavy breathing echoed throughout the apartment. Finally, Toph curled over onto her side, knees tucking against Sokka's ribs. She found his heartbeat in the floor, her sensitive skin lighting up with the flurry of emotions she felt coming her way.

She clenched her eyes shut, and for once, she was glad she couldn't see. His expression, she would think later, might just kill her.

_Present _

".. do you really think so? Because I wasn't so sure, but now that you mention it, I do like it better on the side."

"No, really, it's great. I'm thinking of getting mine cut that way," Suki was saying, touching her brunette hair. Katara nodded thoughtfully, and then the table fell into silence again, save for the sounds of eating.

Toph shifted in her seat. Then -

"So I'm pregnant."

Silence. Even the eating had stopped, though Zuko's noodles made a wet plop when they slid off his chopsticks and back into his bowl. His hand remained frozen in mid-air.

Toph, on the other hand, continued to shove food in her mouth, as if she hadn't said anything. Finally, it was Katara who spoke up. Of course.

"You're .. _pregnant_?" she repeated, her tone a bit strained. Toph swallowed her noodes, her head still bowed in the general direction of her food.

"Yep," she said loftily, taking a slurping drink from her teacup. When she didn't elaborate, Aang learned forward. "Who's the father, Toph?" he asked, his tone laced with concern. She sighed, shifting in her seat. If she'd been of the seeing sort, she would have avoided eye contact with all of them. As it were, she simply looked up at the ceiling and chose not to seek out their seismic readings.

"Some guy in the Earth Kingdom," she said dully. She shrugged. "Met him in a tavern. I don't know, I was really drunk." She threw back the rest of her tea before dropping the cup with a slight clatter on the table. "It was that expedition I went on, you know. Trying to get Earthbenders to come to Republic City and all." A few moments of silence followed. Zuko spoke next.

"Do you want me to find him? Because I've got some agents out there, I can locate - "

Toph cut him off.

"Nah, it's okay. I don't think he'd even remember me anyway." She played with her teacup, and Zuko frowned. "Well, what're you going to do then?" he asked.

"About what?"

Suki blinked, leaning forward. "About the baby, Toph!"

Toph shot her an incredulous look. "I'm going to throw it in a gutter, what do you _think _I'm going to do? I'll raise it!" Suki frowned, glancing at her husband down the table. Zuko gave her a helpless look.

"By yourself?" she asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, by myself," Toph snapped. "What's wrong with that?" Suko placed a hand on her arm apologetically. "Nothing, it's just - "

"You won't be by yourself," Aang said suddenly, moving beside her. Toph pursed her lips, trying not to frown at all the unwanted attention. She felt suspiciously like crying, which was outrageous, but she kept it bottled inside. Damn hormones. "You'll never be by yourself," the monk continued. "We're here."

Toph quirked her lip at him a little. "Thanks.." she said quietly, and for a moment, she felt overwhelmed by the situation. Then she was up abruptly, giving them all one last wave of thanks before she retreated to the balcony.

* * *

There she was, leaning over the balcony, looking like she hadn't been gone for the last two months on some spur of the moment trip to the Earth Kingdom. He replayed their last conversation out in his mind, and his dread increased with every step.

_.. think things just got a little out of hand. It's like - I mean, I just want you to know that I don't think it's a big deal._

_Right. _

_So I don't want you to think anything weird. Because, you know. It was just - me being a jackass, like you always say. It didn't mean anything._

_Course not. _

_Plus, me and Su-Ni are thinking about getting back together... and it was just harmless. Us, I mean. _

_A shrug. _

_I'd just hate to think that YOU think that I took advantage of you.. because you're my best friend. My buddy. My partner in crime. I mean, it would be crazy to let one night of meaningless sex ruin everything, right?_

_Yeah.. crazy. _

_So we're good? _

_Yeah, Sokka. We're good. _

"Toph?"

She didn't move. She already knew he was there, even before he'd closed the sliding door behind him. Sokka glanced back at the house, then turned his attention back to the woman in front of him. Her back was turned and her elbows were balanced on the railing, her entire posture slumped.

What felt like a very long moment passed in silence.

"Is it mine?"

Toph was infinitely glad, in that moment, that she could feel his heartbeat, but he could not feel hers. She tightened her jaw. Her eyes squinted with the effort to keep them open.

"Are you fucking deaf? I already told you guys. It was some random asshole from the Earth Kingdom," she said flatly to the wind. Sokka moved to her side. He felt unusually tense, and when he touched her arm, she could feel his fingertips tremble.

"I don't believe you."

Toph snatched her arm away. "Well, I don't give a shit what you believe! It's the truth!" she exclaimed, taking a step back and catching a sharp breath that she forced down her throat as a gulp. She turned away again, but Sokka was still there, at her side.

"Toph," he pleaded with her quietly. "Please, just - "

She squeezed her opaque eyes shut, her shoulders hunched and tight. "None of this has anything _to do _with you, Sokka," she managed through grinded teeth. "I fucked up, I got pregnant. Boo fucking hoo."

The two month old conversation floated between them again, hanging in the air.

_.. guess you were right. I really need to control myself. I think I would have had sex with anyone at that point. _

_How flattering. _

_Oh, come on, you know I didn't mean it like that.. How many times have I told you about those other girls, like the gymnast? Man, she was great.. could do all sorts of.._

They'd shared a lot over the years, and Toph had borne it all. But she was done.

Leaning against the balcony, Toph swallowed tightly.

"Toph! Just talk to me already!"

Sokka's voice in the present overlapped his voice in the past, and Toph finally turned her head, just a little. Her expression was flat.

Sokka scowled, angrier than she'd seen him in years. There was something else there too, though. Desperation, maybe.

"How many ways do I have to say it, Sokka?" she snapped, finally turning to face him, her expression shifting into one of fury. "_It's. Not. Yours._" She threw out an arm with a wordless yell and cut her eyes at him. "It's mine!"

"Do you hear me? I'm giving it MY name, MY legacy, and MY bending. It will have an Aunt Katara, an Aunt Suki, an Uncle Aang, an Uncle Zuko, and an _UNCLE _Sokka_!" _she screamed, her chest twisted with anguish. Sokka took a step back, his jaw clenched.

Toph pointed a finger at him, her hands trembling.

"_So take it or leave it_!"

The earth below the house shifted at her rage, but she pressed it away, her toes curling with the effort. Sokka nodded slowly, his jaw clenched. His blue eyes roamed over her red face, down her body and then away from her completely.

"Do you swear?" he asked quietly.

Toph panted, her hands lowering and her face twisting in and out of a grimace as she struggled to keep a hold of herself.

"I swear, Sokka," she said tightly. "It's not your _bastard_. So move on with your life already."

Another slow nod, before she heard him turn and move away. He slid through the doors without another word.

Toph leaned against the railing limply and wondered vaguely if a body could collapse in on itself. Her insides were on fire.

* * *

".. come on, you can do it! One more push! Go, Toph!"

"Ahhh, FUCK, it hurts!"

"Just a little more - There it is! It's a _girl_! Hurry, Suki, get the towels!"

Infant screams filled the air, and Toph slumped back against her pillow, utterly exhausted. Katara bustled around her, but Suki was right at her side, gripping Toph's hand. They moved the baby and cleared away the fluids. Toph's body trembled and she sucked in air greedily.

The other two women were whispered, and suddenly Toph was filled with dread. Her eyes prickled with tears.

"Oh, Toph," Katara said quietly, her voice misty. Toph's body was seized with fear. "What?" she asked, panicked.

"Toph, she looks ..." Suki started, and Toph nearly sobbed. _Oh God, they were going to say Sokka. They were going to say she has dark skin and blue eyes, _Toph thought wildly, but when Katara moved to settle the warm infant in her arms, Toph could hear her smiling.

"She looks just like you, Toph."

The earthbender exhaled. Her tears fell freely now, her breathing shaky and uneven as she held her daughter. She touched her hand, her mewling little mouth, and brushed her fingertips over the baby's eyelids.

"Really?" she asked, her voice cracking. "Yeah," Katara said softly, sitting at her side. Toph sniffled, running her fingers over the baby's face. Another sob tore through her, and Suki frowned.

"Toph! Are you - are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Toph said gruffly, wiping away her tears. They sat in silence for a moment, admiring the baby girl in Toph's arms. "What will you call her?" Suki asked quietly. Toph curled her daughter's fingers around her own.

"Lin," she whispered, brushing a fingertip of the baby's nose. The other two women exchanged smiles. "Lin," they both repeated. Toph inclined her head to the infant's, closing her eyes and breathing in the deep, pure smells that only an infant could have. The other two women stood and left the room, leaving Toph alone for a few moments with her new daughter.

The room suddenly seemed large and empty. Toph's voice was so quiet.

"Forgive me, Lin.." she managed. "I'm all you'll ever have." She curled the infant close.

"But it's okay... You're all I'll ever have, too."

end

Author's Note: Went back and edited.


End file.
